Everybody still loves Everybody Loves Raymond as the hit sitcom’s 30th Anniversary Reunion special proved a ratings winner for CBS and has earned itself an encore presentation.
According to Nielsen figures, Monday’s (November 24) airing of the Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion drew 6.32 million live+same-day viewers on CBS. This made the broadcast the most-watched primetime entertainment special of the 2025-26 season.
As a result, CBS has announced that a repeat of the reunion will air on Friday (November 28) at 9 pm ET following A Paw Patrol Christmas special.
The reunion saw the show’s lead star, Ray Romano, and series creator Phil Rosenthal host a 90-minute discussion about the popular sitcom, reminiscing about favorite moments and paying tribute to cast members no longer with us. The special featured guest appearances from cast members Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Monica Horan, Madylin Sweeten, and Sullivan Sweeten.
According to Deadline, the special topped the 2025-26 season average of every primetime non-sports program on broadcast except for CBS’ 60 Minutes and Tracker and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, as well as Matlock‘s Sunday season premiere. It topped ABC’s CMA Awards (6.0 M) and Golden Girls: 40 Years of Laughter and Friendship (3.4M) and NBC’s Wicked: One Wonderful Night (2.6M).
The ratings success of the reunion is sure to reignite speculation about an Everybody Loves Raymond reboot. However, Ramano and Rosenthal recently expressed reservations about reviving the show, noting that reboots are “never as good” as the original.
“Many shows do reboots, and we’ve never wanted to do that,” Rosenthal told Deadline. “We felt like we couldn’t honestly do one since some of the cast isn’t with us anymore, and they were essential to the success of the show. Also, Ray and I both believe that reboots generally are never as good as the original.”
Since the show ended its nine-season run in May 2005, several of the show’s core cast have died, including Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle, who played Ray Barone’s (Romano) parents, Sawyer Sweeten, who played one of Ray and Debra’s (Heaton) twin sons, and Fred Willard and Georgia Engel, who played Hank MacDougall and Pat MacDougall, respectively.
“Even if every cast member was alive and well, [reboots] are never as good as when the show was thriving and we were younger,” Romano added.
Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion, Encore, Friday, November 28, 9 pm et, CBS
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